Do you regenerate?

We started discussing this in the ALC game 11 pre-game thread and I started wondering how commonly most players use the map regenerator to try to get a better start.

I will almost never do it for an ALC game, but often do it in my off-line games. I'm going to spend several hours playing a game and I want to know I have a shot at winning from the start. I don't use world builder to peek at the map (exploring it is a lot more fun), but if I don't like the start, I will sometimes regenerate.

What, in particular, will send you to the regenerate command? For myself, if I see nothing but desert or tundra in the for surrounding my start, I'll usually regenerate. Same if I have absolutely no resources visible, which sometimes happens.

I play on Monarch level currently, but every now and then I like to relax with a Prince game. There, to make it more challenging, I'll usually take whatever I get.

I rarely regenerate. Not even maps.

Usually I don't regenrate maps at all. I've started regenerating some lately, because Warlords 2.08 has a penchant for seafood starts, and after a couple of these I'd like to see something different. I'll stop that as soon as player placement is fixed.

Regenerating isnt cheating because the game hasnt started yet.

So i do it all the time.

I play a few different types of games.

1) "Play the hand you're dealt" - I pick my normal map and speed (Continents, Large, Epic), random leader. I may add two civs to the map (11 civs total) to make it a bit tighter, civ density closer to that of standard map size. In this case, I hit "Launch" and pray. No regenerating, no WB peeking.

2) "Balanced game" - I probably pick my leader here as well. When I get the start, I do one thing first: WB peek. This is to make sure I'm not starting on my own island. The only thing I look at here is the minimap, so I won't see resource placements or the like (and yes, when looking for balanced game I stay honest in this). After that, I look at my starting position to decide whether it's good, bad, or reasonable. Too good and I'll regen (the game would probably be one level easier than the difficulty setting would indicate, thus not fun). Too bad and I'll regen (icy start? Hard to go for a balanced game. No food? I can't make it a balanced game).

3) Thematic games - I pick leader, may pick some number of opponents, have set myself some theme, variant, or whatever you want to call it. I know what kind of a start I'm looking for, and will regen to get that. And yes, WB peek is required as well. Either I want to start on my own island or I specifically don't want to start on my own island, and I'm not going to waste an hour playing to see that the map isn't giving me the game I wanted to play.

So, for me it depends on what I'm going to play. As my games are offline, not featured on the forums (I've posted some starts, talked about some of my games, but that's completely different from what ALC and EMC are), nobody except me is going to care

PS. Should I bump Princes of the Universe thread?

It's not cheating to start a new game. When the AIs start with something like 8 units each, I don't see any point in playing on if I get a tundra start, or whatever. I want a start with at least something going for it. So yeah, I regenerate.

Cheating = Reloading when you lose battles, or to get techs from goody huts.

I don't play many random games, but if I did, I would feel free to regenerate the map. However, I'd be just as likely to regenerate a map because it's "too good", as because it's "too bad". I'm not sure how I should vote....

I regenerate a lot. I play on Monarch/Emperor usually, and I find it really likes to **** with me and give me lots of desert or tundra areas and not much else. I play the game to have fun, and it just annoys me to get totally shafted on a start by the RNG, and I have no qualms defeating the RNG's lame tactics by restarting.

A foodless capital is an instant restart for me. Not being able to grow your capital is just no fun, I find it drastically increases the amount of turns I have to sit there hitting enter continuously.

A capital with no hills (well, unless maybe I have a shitloads of hammer resources on flatland or something) is also an instant restart for me. I pretty much only care about warmongering and building certain wonders, so it's all about mines for me.

Elandal said:

PS. Should I bump Princes of the Universe thread?

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Sure--I'm working on the next chapter. Sorry it's taking so long.

I'm a very spoiled regenerater I won't be happy until I see some cows on that grassland, a helping of wheat by the river and a school of fish in my waters. I've spent over 30 minutes searching maps. I didn't pick 'Oy vey' because I don't know what the heck it means

No, I don't regenerate. I take the hand I'm dealt and try to do what I can with it.

But I have modified the HandicapInfo XML info to ensure consistent, good starts. I think I'm playing with an iStartingLocation value of 30 at my Monarch setting. This allows me to play at an AI competitive level, without the huge variability that a range of starting location possibilities throws into the mix.

So I guess you could say that I rig it so that I don't have to regenerate.

thenooblet22 said:

I'm a very spoiled regenerater I won't be happy until I see some cows on that grassland, a helping of wheat by the river and a school of fish in my waters. I've spent over 30 minutes searching maps. I didn't pick 'Oy vey' because I don't know what the heck it means

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Sorry, I grew up with a bunch of Jewish friends and picked up a some handy turns of phrase along the way. "Oy vey" is a Yiddish expression of dismay meaning "oh no!" or "woe is me". The way my friends used it, it also seems to mean "don't get me started", which is kind of the connotation here. It's usually accompanied by a an obligatory eye roll.

I hate to admit it but I have been known to regen. If the start is halfway decent, I will stick it out, but bad starts bother me at my level.

I tried regenerating in the past. Didn't help me much.

I do tend to start over if I find myself on an island. Also, I will restart if I'm given a random leader that I have played too often, or too recently, or for whom I am just not in the mood.

heck yeah i do (now...i didn't know you could for a long time). i don't even consider it a cheating type thing, since i haven't started yet.

a while back i had several games in a row which i was enjoying, and then found out i had no stinking coal ANYWHERE! like maybe 2 tiles of it a zillion miles away on my continent, and the other continents had a ton. sometimes nobody would trade with me for it (even after gifting them the tech(s) to see it if need be). i could see it there taunting me resource on their resource trade screen, and they had more than one!!! i ended up giving in to WB to put some nearish me somewhere, just couldn't stand it.

so after that frustration several times in a row, i did cheat by asking hubby to go into WB for me and check for coal at least somewhere nearish me, not waaaaaaaay far away in the next few games. i left the room while he did that since i didn't want to spoil the map for myself. in 'real' games (as opposed to games where i just want to relax and have an easy one) i don't WB because a big part of the fun is uncovering the map as the game progresses. but yes, that pre-check for coal a few turns into the game would be considered cheating *giggle*.

KMad, you just need to conquer enough territory to guarantee that you have coal somewhere (not to mention uranium, oil, and aluminum).

I'm similar to Elandal. Currently playing a series of random games (shuffle map, normal speed standard size, random leader, Monarch) where I play what I am dealt. When I play a OCC (which I am very fond of doing), I will regenerate the map until I find a site that seems promising for that particular game, but even then I'm not overly picky (I don't regenerate until I get 2 gold and 3 seafood in the fat cross or anything).

ive done it before but i not a big fan of it

btw sisiutil you arenot allowed spoilers in your sig

kristopherb said:

btw sisiutil you arenot allowed spoilers in your sig

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Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.

I pretty much try to go with what the game gives me.

Sisiutil said:

KMad, you just need to conquer enough territory to guarantee that you have coal somewhere (not to mention uranium, oil, and aluminum).

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but i'm not good at warmongering early! pardon me as i pause to let y'all laugh hysterically at the thought of pre-coal being early.

i'm oh so proud of myself for wiping out my alex when he had 3 cities and monty when he had only 4 in one recent game, and hatty before she had a third city in another game. i'm learning! but still, my tendency is build up far-too-lovely cities, get (over-)ready as far as military, and THEN conquer my selected victim without ever taking a peace break, which can lead to map issues.